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Feminism can be thought of as the ideas generated fundamentally by women with the aim of altering their self realization as well as the social order. Basically, most of the women movements are formed with the main aim of liberating women from men dominance. In Particular, feminists base their social living views on the widely accepted opinions that women are socially disadvantaged. Precisely, feminists argue that there is gender inequality in the way women and men interact in workplaces and marriages. Although people who advocate for feminism argues that men and women are equal in political and social matters, that is yet to be witnessed in the real world.
From the standpoint of feminist, social roles, occupations, behavioral and desires are explained as feminine or masculine. To illustrate, the society associates empathetic feelings, caring and nurturing with women. Moreover, childcare, nursing and secretarial work is defined as ladies’ work. On the other hand, work in public offices and military work is associated with men. Following this, feminists believe that associating certain work and behaviors with a certain gender is not natural but as a result of social aspects.
Without doubt, gender disparity in the society where men and women are perceived differently is social in nature and is developed with an aim to maintain dominance of men in the society. To clarify, gender arrangement in the society is hierarchical with men holding the top positions and women holding the subordinate positions. To put it differently, the society expect women to be caretakers and mothers, which consequently denies them a chance to develop skills required in corporate governance and in top political positions. In addition, women are expected to respond to the needs of the others and nurture them, which makes them to develop a less aggressive nature, which is contrary to what leadership roles require. To be precise, societal difference in gender can be attributed to the dominance of males in the society.[“Write my essay for me?” Get help here.]
As a matter of fact, men have more power than women in every society. To illustrate, in USA, the top most positions in military, economics, government and education are held by men. In particular, male dominance is more evident in people’s sexual lives. In other words, it is assumed that men should be in control during sexual intercourse. Moreover, men supremacy is revealed in the beauty industry. To illustrate, the industry usually uphold a slim ideal sexual beauty, which women works hard to acquire in order to impress men.
Without a doubt, having power comes with many benefits and men fight hard to keep it. Most compelling evidence, men rape and beat women in their effort to maintain male dominance. In addition, they are against any woman who may be willing to acquire a top position in any organization. Moreover, men support the social ideas that define women as wives and caretakers. Indeed, this plays a big role to keep women at the subordinate positions in the society. Furthermore, men have continued to use medicine and science to support the idea that nature determines gender hierarchy and disparity, which explains the role of women as mothers and care takers. In particular, feminists believe the idea of natural gender disparity is a scheme meant to hide the political and social powers that forms the male dominance, which is oppressive and unequal.
From the standpoint of feminists, the society of women and men is entirely political in nature. To clarify, people become skilled at being men and women where women assume the subordinate role in the society. Although they continue to fight against control by male, social customs, natural gender difference, men economic and political superiority forces women to acquire subordinate positions in the society. Despite the fact that feminists believe that gender is a political and social idea, they have different views on the force of male dominance and nature of gender.
In particular, there are three approaches used to explain the feminist theory, which are gynocentric feminism, difference feminism and postmodern feminism. Firstly, under gynocentric feminism men and women are believed to want varied things, think and feel differently (Smith 5). Although there are differences among women and men, there is a unique similarity among women and among men. In this connection, a group of feminists claims that all females have a common social or biological reality, which they share amongst themselves. In other words, they argue that all women fight and desire to be free of the male dominance.
In the modern-day world, women and men have different social positions. Although different women have different social class and knowledge levels, they have a common gender experience because they are primarily held responsible for doing house chores and taking care of men and children. Following this, much of women’s time is spent in specific localities such as in home and in their neighborhoods. In particular, women have their own way of expressing their ideas on social aspects (Smith 7). To illustrate, instead of talking about general human behavior, they speak about specific behaviors associated with a specific person. Moreover, instead of talking about society as whole, they talk about how specific people live their social lives.
Sociology centers men’s lives in public offices, politics, military and sports. In other words, they hold powerful positions in the society and they are the ruling class. Without a doubt, social views of men are shaped by their involvement in public affairs (Smith 8). The fact that have they predominantly taken over social sciences and sociology means they are the dominant gender in the society. In particular, sociology forms part of a lawful order that is beneficial to wealthy class and in particular, men.
Precisely, there are four sociological traditions that are connected to the feminist theory (Brym, Robert & John 6). In particular, micro-interactionist tradition states that the social world comes out of the significant interactions among people. As a matter of fact, an individual understands himself or herself better when he or she speak and cooperate with other people. Social associations and roles are models of interaction that have not only grown through habit, but also coexistence. That is to say, society is shaped through interaction of people. Simply put, sociology enables people to visualize what they can do to reshape and improve the society into a better place through interactions.
Durkheimian tradition indicates that human are social beings. To put it differently, people’s basic and emotional needs are embedded with other people, which suggest that people must interact with one another to have a good life (Brym, Robert & John 11).. That is to say, People depend on one another for survival and any effort to be rational cannot succeed.
In addition, Conflict tradition suggests that society is a continuing fight between the dominant and the inferior party, where each party fights for its interest and wellbeing (Brym, Robert & John 5). As a matter of facts, it is rare to have a society where everyone is contented and people always fight for power and higher social status. Without a doubt, some people may acquire power at the expense of others. Therefore, it is not a rare thing to have people in the society who claim to worry about the interests of the others while in the real sense they are more concerned about their well being. Precisely, sociologists can only bring positive change to the society by making sure the minority oppose their domination. In this case, the women are the subordinate and the men are the dominant party in power who oppress women.
Lastly, rational or utilitarian tradition suggests that the society is a group of people who individually pursue their personal goals (Brym, Robert & John 6). To clarify, individuals in the society know what they want and all their efforts are directed towards achieving their dreams. Notably, people are fundamentally individualistic, which means people with similar interests will always be at war since everyone wants to achieve his or her goals. For people to get along, their incentives must be aligned properly.
Under gynocentric feminism, sociology is perceived as a political enterprise. Gynocentric feminists argue that there should be a critical sociology that focus on liberating females from social orders that are male dominated. In detail, a sociology that favors women would appreciate the role women play in the society by making sure women local settings, daily activities and social activities are the starting point for social awareness. Moreover, a feminist sociology focuses on recuperating the honor of lives of women and giving them a voice.[Need an essay writing service? Find help here.]
A sociology that is woman oriented aims on promoting a critical political knowledge by analyzing how empowering women will shape their lives. In other words, a feminist sociology is supposed to change women into agents of the society who can socially transform their lives and those of others. Furthermore, a feminist sociology is supposed to criticize discrimination on gender basis and oppression of women in the society.
In particular, some sociologists analyze mental illness based on gender and race. While some mental illnesses are associated with women, those that are common with men are eliminated from the list of mental illness for example, drug abuse. Without a doubt, this has a social consequence because it portrays women as vulnerable to mental sickness and they are perceived as if they are weaker than men. A feminist sociology is supposed to change the wrong view on women and discourage mistreatment of females.
Difference feminism is an approach to feminist theory where different feminists have different views on sexuality, gender, class and race (Lloyd 5). In particular, in the late 1970s many feminist focused on criticizing gender inequality and emphasized on empowering women against oppressive men. As a matter of facts, feminists called upon women to join hands and protect themselves against the dominant masculinity. Precisely womanhood was now defined in terms of social classes, way of being and psychological dispositions. Without a doubt, this was a new form of gynocentric feminism.
While women associations grew into more intense and strong groups, women of color started criticizing the gynocentric feminists claiming the classy white women who hold top positions in women’s movements never addressed the issues of class and race. Following this, a new group of feminists from non white communities emerged. In the meantime, the gynocentric feminists were criticized for not addressing the issue of race in their campaigns. To demonstrate, the black women claimed that discrimination on gender basis could not be separated from class and racial aspects. In other words, women of the color believed their experience were not incorporated by the gynocentric feminism and felt that gender; class and race should not be separated but addressed together.
As a matter of facts, feminists of color had no intentions to destabilize the women’s movements. Instead, they wanted an addition of issues that affected their daily lives to be included in the objectives of the women movements (Lloyd 7). On the contrary, this raised so many questions about the common identity of women. For example, people started doubting whether women who differed on race and class issues could still be united. Moreover, the fact that gynocentric feminists claimed that sexual experiences for women varied raised question about whether women with different sexual desires could still be united.
Attack of gynocentric feminists who were mainly white women by women of the color led to emergence of new feminism called the postmodern feminism in the early 1990s. In particular, these feminists believe that gender identity cannot be fixed by nature or the society. Moreover, they believe that there is no gender identity that can be based on cultural values or any social views that separates women from men (Tandon 8). To be precise, gender is an ongoing social conflict and it bears multiple and changing meanings. Postmodern feminists assert that it is difficult to run away from the instability and multiplicity of the feminist’s politics and knowledge.
Although, gynocentric feminism encouraged internal harmony, but it did so by creating divisions and silencing differences. In particular, postmodern feminists focus on promoting cooperation between feminists and among women (Tandon 2). Moreover, they wish to disintegrated the narrow-mindedness of individuals and encourage formation of a universal union that is politically effective. Precisely, the ideology of women sharing a common gender identity without a doubt encourages feminism. Although this is true, the idea not only plays a big part in misrepresenting the lives of women, but also hinders the likelihood of gender politics.[Click Essay Writer to order your essay]
Under postmodern feminism, feminists should avoid the impression of a centralized gender identity. Precisely, gender is perceived as an achievement where people are born male and female but grow to become men and women. In other words, being a woman implies adopting a feminine character, which consequently forms the foundation of women’s responsibilities (Tandon 7). To illustrate, no social education or coercion can explain the decision to mother a child. To put it differently, females gain a feminine identity that force them to mother children. That is to say, to be a mother is perceived as a socially gained feminine identity.
From the perceptions of scholars of masculinity, gender is not a fixed status but what one does. To clarify, gender is formed through interactions but not fixed prior to social contacts. Precisely, viewing gender as a social activity indicates taking gender identities, norms and meanings fairly open and unstable. Without doubt, there is a connection between feminist theory and male’s studies that indicates gender has a performative character.
In conclusion, I believe the fight for female equality can be done in many ways but not all ways are appropriate. Some methods are better than the others depending on one’s personal priorities. Without a doubt, men and women have many similar attributes but they also have some disparities. The fact that top public offices are held by men does not mean women cannot be in power. Moreover, the fact that women are emotional and empathetic does not mean men cannot be empathetic. Following this, race and gender should never be considered when conducting recruitment or promotion in the society. To be precise, I believe men and women have equal potential so there should be no discrimination on gender basis. For a number of reasons as explored above, key among them overcoming male dominance in the society, the feminist theory has succeeded more than the other similar theories over the years because they incorporates both the required ideas and is based on reality on the ground.
References
Brym, Robert J, and John Lie. Sociology: Your Compass for a New World, the Brief Edition. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
Lloyd, Moya. Judith Butler: From Norms to Politics. Cambridge: Polity, 2007. Internet resource.
Smith, Dorothy E. The Everyday World As Problematic: A Feminist Sociology. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2012. Internet resource.
Tandon, Neeru. Feminism: A Paradigm Shift. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2008. Print.
